Pioneer Dehradun-english-edition-2021-02-27

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With political temperature
running high ahead of
the Assembly polls, the
Election Commission (EC) on
Friday announced that voting
for five Assembly polls will
begin on March 27 with West
Bengal going for an eight-
phase elections till April 9 and
Assam for a three-phase exer-
cise till April 6. The Assembly
polls in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and
Puducherry will be held in a
single phase on April 6.
The counting will be held
for all five States on May 2.
With the announcement of
poll schedules, the model code
of conduct came into effect
from Friday evening. Terms of
the Legislative Assemblies in
West Bengal, Assam, Kerala
and Tamil Nadu are coming to
an end in May and June.
Announcing the election
schedule, Chief Election
Commission Sunil Arora said
that nearly 18.68 crore electors
will vote at 2.7 lakh polling sta-
tions for 824 seats in these
Assembly elections and polling
stations will be at the ground
floor without any
negotiation.
“There shall be maximum
1,000 electors instead of 1,500
electors at a polling station and
voting will be allowed for an
extra hour, adding that
arrangements would be made
for candidates to file nomina-
tions online,” he said.
In Assam, elections will be
held for 126 seats in three
phases on March 26 (47 seats),
April 1 (39 seats), April 6 (40
seats). The last date of nomi-
nation is March 9.
Announcing the schedules
for West Bengal, Arora said,
“For 294 seats in West Bengal,
the first phase of the election
has been scheduled on March
27 and it will cover 30 con-
stituencies. The second phase
of West Bengal’s Assembly elec-
tions has been scheduled for
April 1 and will cover 30 con-
stituencies, followed by the
third phase on April 6 for 31
seats, the fourth on April 10 for
44 constituencies, the fifth on
April 17 for 45 seats, sixth for
43 seats on April 22, seventh
phase on April 26 for 36 seats
and last and eighth phase on
April 29 for 35 seats.”
Last time, the Assembly
elections were conducted in
seven phases in Bengal. A total
of 68 seats are reserved for the
Scheduled Castes and 16 for the
Scheduled Tribes. Term of the
current West Bengal Assembly
is scheduled to come to an end
on May 30.
The election for the 140
seats in Kerala, 234 seats in
Tamil Nadu and 30 seats
Puducherry will be held in a
single phase on April 6.
Taking note of the threat of
intimidation and violence dur-
ing the poll campaign, the EC
has directed that the election
security plan of poll-going
States will be jointly decided by
a committee comprising the
chief electoral officer, State
police nodal officer and Central
Armed Police Forces (CAPF)
coordinator. According to offi-
cials, over 6,600 polling sta-
tions in West Bengal have been
identified as “vulnerable” and
715 critical ahead of the
Assembly elections while over
2,654 polling stations has been
identified as “critical” and 338
vulnerable in Assam.
Recounting the Covid-19
guideline issued by the com-
mission in August 2020, the
CEC said polling time has
been extended by an hour and
door-to-door campaigning has
been restricted to five people.
He added that States can mod-
ify the guidelines according to
their local Covid-19 situation.
The CEC also said that ade-
quate Central paramilitary
forces will be deployed during
the elections. All sensitive, crit-
ical and vulnerable polling sta-
tions have been identified and
an adequate number of CAPFs
will be deployed there.
?=BQ =4F34;78
After contracting for two
quarters in a row, the
Indian economy entered the
positive territory with a growth
of 0.4 per cent in the October-
December quarter, mainly due
to good performance by the
farm, services and construction
sectors, official data showed on
Friday. Ahead of the release of
the GDP data, Sensex slumped
by nearly 2,000 points on the
fear that long-term growth pro-
jection may not be sustainable.
The 0.4 per cent growth is
at the lower end of the forecast
made by most of economists
and others. Trade and hotel
industryregisteredacontraction
of 7.7 per cent during the third
quarter this fiscal, as the sectors
continued to suffer on account
of coronavirus pandemic.
According to the data
released by the National
Statistical Office (NSO), the
farm sector recorded a growth
of 3.9 per cent, and the manu-
facturing sector output grew by
1.6 per cent in the quarter
under review. The construction
sector advanced by 6.2 per
cent, while electricity, gas, water
supply, and other utility services
clocked a 7.3 per cent growth.
The NSO said, “GDP at
Constant (2011-12) Prices in
Q3 of 2020-21 is estimated at
C36.22 lakh crore, as against
C36.08 lakh crore in Q3 of
2019-20, showing a growth of
0.4 per cent”.
The gross domestic prod-
uct (GDP) had expanded by 3.3
per cent in the corresponding
period of 2019-20. In its second
advance estimates of national
accounts, the NSO has pro-
jected 8 per cent contraction in
2020-21, showing the pan-
demic impact. In its first
advance estimates released in
January, it had projected a
contraction of 7.7 per cent for
the current fiscal as against a
growth of four per cent in
2019-20.
?=BQ =4F34;78
After the UK, South Africa
and Brazil Covid-19 strains
rose to touch to 194-mark on
Friday, at least 18 States, includ-
ing Maharashtra, Kerala and
Telangana have come under the
scanner of the National Centre
for Disease Control Disease
(NCDC), a Central agency for
disease surveillance and pre-
vention.
These regions have added
almost all the cases of Covid-
19 strain from the UK, South
Africa and Brazilian variants of
SARS-CoV-2. Also, these States
are reporting a surge in the
Covid-19 cases, though the
Union Health Ministry has
denied that the increase is due
to the new variants.
The NCDC has asked
States to keep tabs on cases
with variants arriving here
from other countries as the tally
of people infected from such
strains has reached 194 in the
country, according to the latest
figures shared by the Union
Health Ministry.
These include 187 cases of
the UK variant, six from the
South African variant while
one has been found infected by
the Brazilian one.
“The States have been told
to increase monitor interna-
tional arrivals and ensure strict
isolation of positive cases, as
per protocol as well as increase
genome sequencing in the
states,” an official from
NCDC.
He also said the presence of
the foreign variants has been
also found in large States such
as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil
Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
Sujeet Kumar Singh, the
director of the NCDC con-
firmed that monitoring has
increased after samples from
these regions revealed the pres-
ence of mutated versions of the
virus. “They have been further
advised to send at least 5 per
cent daily samples for genome
sequencing as per the norm,” he
added.
?C8Q 270=3860A7
Around six weeks after her
arrest in a criminal case
filed under several charges
including attempt to murder,
labour rights activist Naudeep
Kaur was on Friday granted
bail by the Punjab Haryana
High Court.
Kaur was arrested in
Haryana’s Sonipat for gherao-
ing an industrial unit and
demanding money from a
company on January 12. Police
had claimed that a team of
cops was attacked with sticks,
resulting in injuries to 7 cops.
A case under the IPC sec-
tion 307 (attempt to murder),
384 (punishment for extor-
tion), 148 (rioting), 353 (assault
or criminal force to deter pub-
lic servant from discharge of his
duty) and 379 B (snatching and
use of force) was
registered.
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US President Joe Biden
believes that it is important
and long overdue to mod-
ernise the immigration system,
and this includes taking steps
to help ensure highly skilled
workers can stay in the coun-
try, the White House has said.
Biden has revoked a poli-
cy issued by his predecessor
during the Covid-19 pandem-
ic that blocked many Green
Card applicants from entering
the US, a move that will bene-
fit many Indians working in
America on the H-1B
visa.
A Green Card, known offi-
cially as a Permanent Resident
Card, is a document issued to
immigrants to the US as evi-
dence that the bearer has been
granted the privilege of resid-
ing permanently.
“The President believes
that it’s important and long
overdue to modernise our
immigration system, and that
includes taking steps to help
ensure that high skilled work-
ers can stay in the country and
can go through the proper
processes to stay in the coun-
try,” White House Press
Secretary Jen Psaki told
reporters at her daily news
conference on Thursday.
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Soon after the Election
Commission of India
announced an unprecedented
8-phase Assembly election for
Bengal, a furious Mamata
Banerjee attacked the poll
panel accusing it of playing a
prejudiced role to the advan-
tage of the BJP.
The TMC chief said the
ECI was “following the com-
mands of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Home
Minister Amit Shah,” and that
the “people of Bengal will not
forgive them for giving us
such a humiliating deal.”
Emerging from a
Trinamool Congress core com-
mittee meeting, she said, “I
have reports that the list of
phase-wise elections found in
the BJP office completely
matches with the EC’s
announcement … I think as a
Constitutional body it should
have been more reasonable,
impartial while deciding on the
number of phases.”
Bengal had witnessed 7-
phased elections in 2019 Lok
Sabha polls.
Wondering as to why polls
would be held in four other
States in lesser number of
phases, Mamata said, “They
are conducting elections in
Assam in three phases, Tamil
Nadu and Kerala in single
phase, but they are holding
elections in Bengal in 8 phas-
es … why they are heaping
such an insult on the people of
Bengal … the people will not
take this lightly.”
The Bengal Chief Minister
also said, “The EC is an impor-
tant Constitutional body. If
they do not give justice to the
people then who will they
turn to? I came to know that
the election dates have been
given as per the requisition of
the BJP… tell me why the dis-
tricts have been divided in
halves for the conduct of the
elections… Moreover districts
like South 24 Parganas where
the TMC is stronger, the elec-
tions are being held in three
phases… This means that the
polls have been planned as per
the desire of the Modi and
Shah. But let me tell you the
Prime Minister and Home
Minister cannot misuse their
power like this.”
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New Delhi: Everyone on elec-
tion duty for the upcoming
polls for five Assemblies will be
vaccinated against Covid-19
before polling day, the Election
Commission said on Friday.
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Thiruvananthapuram: In
view of rise in fresh Covid-19
cases, the Kerala Government
will conduct RT-PCR tests
free of cost for expatriates
returning to the State, the
Government said on Friday as
3,671 more peopled tested
positive, taking the infection
count to 10.52 lakh.
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Union minister for Road
Transport and Highways,
Nitin Gadkari said that the
road on the Kailash
Mansarovar route in
Uttarakhand will be complet-
ed in the next five to six
months with 85 per cent of the
work having been completed
so far. The union minister said
that he will himself go on
Kailash Mansarovar Yatra
from this road. He said this
after inaugurating national
highways costing Rs 5,000
crore and unveiling the foun-
dation stones for national
highways costing Rs 400 crore
in the state at a function
presided over by chief minis-
ter Trivendra Singh Rawat on
Friday. Speaking on the occa-
sion, Gadkari said that the
Central Road Fund (CRF) for
Uttarakhand had been raised
by 10 times on the request of
the CM. On receipt of pro-
posals, works amounting to Rs
250 crore will be approved this
year. The national highways
inaugurated on the occasion
include a 78 kilometre four-
lane stretch of NH 58 between
Muzaffarnagar and Haridwar,
R o o r k e e - C hu t m a l p u r-
Gagalhedi NH 73, 54 kilome-
tre four-lane stretch of
Chhutmalpur-Ganeshpur NH
72A, 37 kilometre four lane
stretch of Haridwar-Dehradun
NH 58 and 72 and
Muzaffarnagar-Haridwar ele-
vated structure Mayapuri
escape channel bridge on NH
58.
Expressing happiness on
the occasion, Gadkari said
that the project had been com-
pleted overcoming various
hurdles and before the start of
the Kumbh Mela as promised.
The completion of these high-
ways will result in a consider-
able saving of time. He said
that bypass construction on
Muzaffarnagar-Haridwar NH
58 will resolve traffic jam in
Purkazi, Roorkee and
Bahadrabad cities, save time
and fuel. Not only will the
journey to Haridwar be more
convenient but new job oppor-
tunities will be created and
tourism will receive a boost.
The Haridwar-Dehradun NH
58 and 72 will make the jour-
ney to Dehradun easier. Three
elephant underpasses are
being incorporated on this
stretch to enable free move-
ment of wildlife in Rajaji tiger
reserve.
Referring to the Char
Dham road project, Gadkari
said that 450 kilometres cost-
ing Rs 7,508 crore had been
completed out of the total 825
kilometres costing Rs 12,500
crore. Stating that this project
is very important from the
strategic viewpoint, he said
that international level scien-
tific techniques are being used
in this project.
Appreciating the Aipan
designs gifted by CM Rawat
during his recent visit to Delhi,
the union minister said that
2,000 square feet roadside
amenity pavilion in Char
Dham project will be given the
state for selling traditional
handicrafts and local products
of Uttarakhand. Stressing on
the need to balance environ-
mental concerns and devel-
opment, he said that 10 trees
will be planted to compensate
for one tree. He further said
that in the future the journey
by road between Delhi and
Dehradun will take only two
hours. The Delhi-Dehradun
expressway will also include
connectivity on the Delhi-
Haridwar route.
Thanking Gadkari, CM
Rawat said that along with the
rest of the country,
Uttarakhand is also progress-
ing swiftly under the leader-
ship of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi. The road
connectivity in Uttarakhand is
being enhanced considerably
with the various road projects
approved by the
centre.
This will not only make
the Char Dham Yatra more
convenient but also expand
tourism activities which in
turn will benefit the state’s
economy and provide
employment opportunities to
lakhs of people, said Rawat.
Union Education minister
Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’
and National Highways
Authority of India chairman
SS Sandhu among others also
spoke on the occasion.
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The State Commission for
Protection of Child Rights
(SCPCR) would conduct a
two-day seminar in
Uttarakhand inviting the
National Commission for
Protection of Child Rights
(NCPCR) and all the child
rights commissions across the
country.
Considering the drug
addiction among youth a seri-
ous issue in many states of the
country, the SCPCR has decid-
ed to conduct a two-day sem-
inar on March 16 and March
17, informed SCPCR chief,
Usha Negi.
The SCPCR recently also
organised a one-day workshop
with reformed young addicts
and students of various colleges
and universities under the
Drug-Free Uttarakhand cam-
paign along with some officials
in order to use worthy recom-
mendations to make guidelines
against substance abuse at State
as well as the national level.
She said that the sugges-
tions made in the recent work-
shop will be sent to the Central
Government for consideration
and the same would be done
after this two-day seminar in
March. According to her, every
state would have some
thoughts and plans to tackle the
drug addiction issue which
can be shared in the seminar.
Every child commission will
share what they have been
doing against drug addiction
and rehabilitation in their
respective states. The repre-
sentatives will suggest various
ideas which can be used to
make strategies to fight drug
addiction across the country,
said Negi.
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Chief Minister Trivendra
Singh Rawat granted posi-
tions to 17 persons in various
commissions, corporations,
councils and committees on
Friday. All of them have been
granted State Minister status.
Ramsurat Nautiyal was made
the vice chairman of state level
fish farmer development
agency, Kailash Pant was made
chairman of Uttarakhand state
disaster management advisory
committee, Pratap Singh Rawat
was made vice chairman of
Uttarakhand Forest
Development Corporation,
Kamal Jindal made the
Uttarakhand forest and envi-
ronment advisory committee
vice chairman, SS Thakur was
made state wildlife advisory
board vice chairman, MS
Mehra was made national rural
health advisory and monitor-
ing council chairman and
Ashutosh Kimothi was made
advisor in herbal research and
development institute,
Gopeshwar. Among the others
Harish Dafoti was made
Hariram Tamta traditional
crafts upliftment
institution chair-
man, Vimal Kumar
was made CM’s
cottage industry
advisor, Baby
Aswal was made
chairperson of state
women entrepre-
neurship council,
Sushma Rawat was
made chairperson
of state level
women vigilance
committee, AK
Sood was made
state level sports
council chairman,
Mukesh Kumar
was made sched-
uled caste com-
mission chairman,
Subhash Joshi was
made chairman of
senior citizens welfare council,
Dinesh Mehra was made vice
chairman of government
industrial training institute
advisory committee, Anil Goel
was made vice chairman of
Uttarakhand civil aviation
development authority and
Premdutt Juyal was made vice
chairman of Uttarakhand
Krishak Mitra Parishad.
Later, while meeting the
position holders in the evening,
the CM exhorted them to work
for redressal of public griev-
ances and implementation of
public welfare schemes. He
said that all those who have
been granted positions should
discharge their responsibilities
with complete dedication.
Efforts should also be under-
taken to raise public awareness
on the steps taken for the bal-
anced and integrated develop-
ment of the state in the past
four years. “Our government
had promised corruption free
governance to the public and
we have fulfilled it. We have
achieved considerable success
during the past four years in
checking institutional corrup-
tion. The State government is
also working with sensitivity to
resolve public grievances,” said
the CM. Cabinet minister
Madan Kaushik and State min-
ister Dhan Singh Rawat were
also present on the occasion.
?=BQ 347A03D=
The Nainital district administration has
launched a programme of installing the
nameplates with Aipan designs in front of
the houses of local residents with their
daughter's names under the Beti Bachao
Beti Padhaon campaign. These nameplates
are currently being designed by the women
of various Self Help Groups (SHGs) who
have been trained in drawing Aipan art
forms on various objects in Naina Devi
Growth Centre. Chief minister Trivendra
Singh Rawat will inaugurate the nameplates
under this programme on Saturday.
Informing this, the General Manager
of the District Industries Centre (DIC) of
Nainital, Vipin Kumar said that the district
magistrate, Dhiraj Singh Garbiyal thought
of this initiative to raise awareness about
the importance of girl child's rights across
the district. He disclosed that the name of
every residence in the district will now be
named after the youngest girl child in the
house. This initiative is also providing
employment to many women of SHGs who
have been trained by the administration in
the last three months, stated Kumar. He fur-
ther informed the administration has pro-
vided these women with all the required
equipment and material for making the
nameplates and they have even started
making the Aipan nameplates since the last
week. Moreover, the officials informed that
the administration has received the data of
daughters in every household of the dis-
trict from the Women Empowerment
Child Development (WECD) department
on the basis of which, the women will pre-
pare around one lakh nameplates. These
nameplates are being prepared with the
names of the youngest girl child in the fam-
ily, as per the officials. Meanwhile, the offi-
cials further informed that the chief min-
ister Trivendra Singh Rawat had also
approved of this initiative on his last visit
to the district and the chief minister
would soon inaugurate the nameplates pre-
pared by these women.
?=BQ 347A03D=
The number of novel
Coronavirus (Covid-19)
patients in Uttarakhand
increased to 96890 on Friday
with the state health depart-
ment reporting 53 new cases of
the disease. The department
also reported the death of one
patient from the pandemic
which increased the death toll
to 1691 in the state. The
authorities discharged 38
patients of the disease from dif-
ferent hospitals on Friday fol-
lowing their recovery from the
disease. A total of 93438
patients have so far recovered
from the disease in the state.
Pithoragarh became the first
district in the state to have no
active case of Covid-19 on
Friday. The recovery percent-
age from the disease now
stands at 96.44 and the sample
positivity rate is 4.09 percent.
In Max hospital,
Dehradun a 79 year Covid-19
patient was reported dead on
Friday.
The health department
reported 30 new patients of
the disease in Dehradun dis-
trict on the day. Here 1958
samples were tested in differ-
ent labs on Friday. Eight
patients each were found in
Haridwar and Nainital while
five patients were reported
from Udham Singh Nagar.
One patient each was found
in Bageshwar and Pithoragarh
districts on the day. No new
patients were reported from
Almora, Chamoli,
Champawat, Pauri, Tehri and
Uttarkashi districts on
Friday.
The state now has 364
active patients of Covid-19.
Haridwar district is at the top
of the table of active cases of
the disease with 101 patients.
Dehradun with 67 active
patients is now at second
position; Nainital has 63,
Pauri 28, Udham Singh Nagar
27, Almora 24, Tehri 15,
Champawat 14, Chamoli 10,
Uttarkashi nine, Bageshwar
four, Rudraprayag two active
cases of the disease.
Pithoragarh district has no
active cases of the district.
Meanwhile in the ongoing
vaccination drive a total of
6792 beneficiaries were vac-
cinated in 128 sessions held in
different parts of the state on
Friday.
The Chief Operations
Officer (COO) of state Covid-
19 control room, Abhishek
Tripathi said that a total of
20319 beneficiaries have so
far been fully vaccinated in
the state. He said that 81109
health care workers and 66691
frontline workers have
received the first dose of the
vaccine. A total of 1325 front
line workers and 5467 health
care workers were vaccinated
in 128 sessions held in the
state on Friday. In Dehradun
37 vaccine sessions were held
on the day in which 1342
health care workers and 101
frontline workers were vacci-
nated while 988 health work-
ers and 336 frontline workers
were vaccinated in 19 sessions
in Pauri district on the day. In
Haridwar 18 sessions were
organised in which 545 health
care and 285 frontline work-
ers were vaccinated on the
day.
?=BQ 347A03D=
The student wing of
Congress party, the
National Students Union of
India (NSUI) staged a strong
protest on the issue of unem-
ployment in the provisional
state capital Dehradun on
Friday. The protesters even
tried to march to the chief min-
ister’s residence, but was pre-
vented by a strong contingent
of the police from doing so.
The in charge of the
Uttarakhand Congress
Devendra Yadav, the Pradesh
Congress Committee (PCC)
president Pritam Singh, former
chief minister Harish Rawat
and other senior leaders of the
party attended the protest
march to support the students.
Earlier in the day, large
number of the students gath-
ered at Rajiv Bhawan from
where they marched to the
CM’s residence. However the
students were stopped by the
police personnel at
Hathibadkala barrier. Here
minor skirmish between the
students and the police took
place. Speaking on the occasion
the national president of NSUI,
Neeraj Kundan said that the
state government has no poli-
cy to provide unemployment to
the youth. He said that in
search of employment the
youth from Uttarakhand had to
migrate to other states. The
President of Uttarakhand unit
of NSUI, Mohan Bhandari said
that large numbers of posts are
lying vacant in different depart-
ments of the state. The
Congress leaders and NSUI
activists subsequently courted
arrest. They were taken to the
Police Lines where they were
released later.
?=BQ 347A03D=
The state administration has
issued a show cause notice
to the President and Secretary
of Uttarakhand Secretariat
Association for holding their
swearing in ceremony without
prior permission. The cere-
mony was organised by a pop-
ular association of secretariat
employees on Friday in which
the Agriculture minister
Subodh Uniyal, chief secretary
Om Prakash and Additional
Chief Secretary Radha Raturi
were invited as guests but nei-
ther the minister nor the two
bureaucrats turned up for the
ceremony.
In a letter directed to the
President Deepak Joshi
and secretary Vimal
Joshi, the Additional
Chief Secretary, Radha
Raturi sought clarifica-
tion in the matter and
the duo have been served
with a show cause notice.
This follows a complaint
lodged by one Narendra
Prasad Raturi some time back
in which he alleged that rules
were not followed the in the
election of the assocation held
on January 22. Subsequently, an
investigation committee head-
ed by additional secretary
Pratap Shah was constituted on
February 11. This committee
was asked to submit its report
within 14 days. The adminis-
tration had also ordered for
suspension of the swearing in
ceremony till the committee
submits its report. However the
association went ahead with its
programme of swearing in
after which a show-cause notice
was issued. Raturi has asked the
two to submit a reply to the
show-cause notice within three
days.
?=BQ 347A03D=
Protesting employees of
UPNL went on a relay
hunger strike on Friday after no
representative from the
Uttarakhand Government ini-
tiated any dialogue with the
Uttarakhand Purva Sainik
Nigam Limited Employees
Union that is on the fifth day
of the protest.
President of the union,
Kushagra Joshi disclosed that
as many as15 employees of
Doon University observed a
hunger strike on the first day of
the relay hunger strike. Joshi
pointed out that since the State
Government is ignoring their
protest for the last five days,
5,000 protesting UPNL
employees have sent postcards
to Prime Minister Narendra
Modi to make him aware of
their issues. Our demands are
valid and justified. If the gov-
ernment will not respond to
our protest, the protestors will
further intensify their hunger
strike till the government
agrees to consider the
demands, said Joshi.
?=BQ 347A03D=
The decision of Uttarakhand
government to amend the
service regulations of Licensed
Teachers (LT) and remove the
compulsion of Bachelor of
Education (B.Ed) degree for the
post of drawing and art teach-
ersinthegovernmentschoolsof
thestatehasagitatedasectionof
students. These students who
haddoneB.EdorMasterofArts
(MA) in drawing subjects
assembled at Gandhi Park here
on Friday and expressed their
resentment on the amended
order. These students said that
by affecting the amendment
the state government has made
thestudentsofBAeligibleforthe
post of Assistant teachers.
Terming the change unconsti-
tutional the students said that
theyallegedthatthegovernment
is resorting to vote bank politics.
They said that the government
should withdraw the amend-
ment notification failing which
they would seek justice form the
High Court (HC).
It is worth mentioning here
that the unemployed graduates
of drawing, painting and fine
arts were demanding that the
B.Ed degree should not be com-
pulsory for drawing teachers in
the state. The chief minister
(CM) Trivendra Singh Rawat
had recently directed the edu-
cation department to remove
the compulsion of the B.Ed
degree for the post of drawing
teachers following which the
education department issued an
amended notification on
Thursday.
?=BQ 347A03D=
The locals must use
Swachhata-MoHUA app
for the immediate redressal of
any sanitation issue within the
Municipal Corporation of
Dehradun (MCD) territorial
limits. This was informed by
the chief municipal health offi-
cer Dr Kailash Joshi while
adding that the corporation
receives around 300 complaints
through the app every day
most of which are resolved
within 48 hours. Recently,
many locals complained to the
corporation regarding the
issues like garbage burning,
waste accumulation in vacant
plots and dumping of garbage
in drains. According to the offi-
cials, though the corporation
imposes penalty on all the said
offences, the corporation can-
not track
down every
offender each
time. We
impose at least
Rs 10,000
penalty on the
owners who
failed to
r e s t r i c t
garbage accu-
mulation in
their vacant
plots. We also impose penalties
on those offenders who are
caught burning the garbage in
public places but the corpora-
tion cannot take action on the
basis of random complaints
without the relevant informa-
tion said Joshi. According to
him, the locals also need to be
vigilant to restrict such activi-
ties in the city. If anyone
observes that someone is burn-
ing garbage, they can click
photos or make videos and
upload them with their com-
plaint in the Swachhata-
MoHUA app with the details.
Thorough details will help us to
find the offenders soon, said
Joshi. Further, the officials stat-
ed that every citizen can ques-
tion such offenders and file
complaint in MCD premises or
through the app.
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Fresh Covid-19 cases are
showing a worrying
upward trend over the past one
week with India recording its
single-day increase of above
16,000 for the second consec-
utive day on Friday. The infec-
tion tally rose to 1,10,63,491,
while the recoveries have
surged to 1,07,50,680.
According to data from the
Union Health Ministry on
Friday, a total 16,577 infections
were reported in a day, while
the death toll increased to
1,56,825 with 120 new fatali-
ties. As per the data, the Union
Territory of Lakshadweep has
reported its first death. The 120
new fatalities include 56 from
Maharashtra, 14 from Kerala,
13 from Punjab.
The number of active cases
increased to 1,55,986, which
accounts for 1.41 per cent of
the total infections, the data
stated. The number of people
who have recuperated from the
disease surged to 1,07,50,680
which translates into a nation-
al recovery rate of 97.17 per
cent. The case fatality rate
stood at 1.42 per cent.
India’s Covid-19 tally had
crossed the 20-lakh mark on
August 7; 30 lakh on August
23; 40 lakh on September 5;
and 50 lakh on September 16.
It went past 60 lakh on
September 28; 70 lakh on
October 11; 80 lakh on
October 29; 90 lakh on
November 20; and the one-
crore mark on December 19.
According to the Indian
Council of Medical Research
(ICMR), 21,46,61,465 samples
have been tested up to
February 25, of which 8,31,807
samples were tested on
Thursday.
A total of 1,56,825 deaths
have been reported in the
country so far, including
51,993 from Maharashtra,
12,483 from Tamil Nadu,
12,316 from Karnataka, 10,905
from Delhi, 10,260 from West
Bengal, 8,723 from Uttar
Pradesh, and 7,168 from
Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, the country
has so far since January 26,
2021, vaccinated 1,34,72,643
healthcare and frontline work-
ers. However, no vaccination
will take place on Saturday and
Sunday as the Centre will
enable transition of CoWIN
app from version 1.0 to 2.0
ahead of the commencement
of vaccination from March 1
for people above 60 years of
age and those above 45 years
with comorbidities, said the
Ministry.
The vaccination will take
place at around 10,000 gov-
ernment facilities which will be
free of cost. However, at private
hospitals, beneficiaries will
have to pay for vaccination.
?=BQ =4F34;78
The NIA on Friday filed a
chargesheet before Special
NIA Court here against 11
members of Al Qaeda/AQIS
from West Bengal and Kerala
under various IPC Sections
and provisions of the Unlawful
Activities Prevention Act.
Those chargesheeted are
Murshid Hasan alias Sofiq,
Mosaraf Hoseen, Mainul
Mandal, Lea Yean Ahmed alias
Leion, Najmus Sakib, Iyakub
Biswas, Samim Ansari, Abu
Sufian, Atiur Rahman, Al
Mamun Kamal and Abdul
Momin Mandal. They have
been charged for criminal con-
spiracy, waging war against
the nation, collecting arms
with intention to wage war
against the Government of
India besides provisions of UA
(P) A and Arms Act.
The instant case was regis-
tered following inputs about an
Al Qaeda inspired module
sprouting and operating in
West Bengal and Kerala under
the leadership of Murshid
Hasan alias Sofiq and that the
members of this module were
in an advanced stage of con-
spiracy to execute terrorist
attacks in different parts of the
country.
In synchronised raids con-
ducted on September 19, 2020
across West Bengal and Kerala,
nine alleged terrorists were
arrested. Subsequently, two
more terror operatives were
arrested from West Bengal on
August 26, 2020 and
November1, 2020.
“Investigation has revealed
that Murshid Hasan alias Sofiq
was in touch with Al Qaeda
handlers based in Pakistan and
Bangladesh and had received
instructions along with radical
propaganda material through
encrypted social media plat-
forms from them. Murshid
Hasan along with his other
associates conspired to radi-
calise and recruit more indi-
viduals into the terrorist organ-
isation Al Qaeda,” the NIA said
in a statement.
The accused persons
allegedly disseminated radical
material through social media
and encrypted chat platforms
with an intention to radicalise
and recruit others for estab-
lishing an Islamic State by
waging violent jihad in India,
it said.
Investigation has also
revealed that the group mem-
bers planned to attack indi-
viduals whom they consider
Kafirs.
The group members had
conducted a series of conspir-
atorial meetings for raising
funds for the purchase of arms
and ammunition/explosive
materials, radicalising and
recruiting more members and
charting out the future course
of action including establishing
a Markaz (a training centre for
providing religious and
weapons training to new
recruits). The accused persons
were also in active communi-
cation with an arms dealer
through their foreign based
handlers and were planning to
receive a consignment of
sophisticated arms and ammu-
nition in the national capital.
“However, their nefarious
plans were obviated by their
timely arrest by NIA. The
accused persons were plan-
ning to attack among others, an
India based Bangladeshi blog-
ger for his views expressed on
social media,” it added.
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The NIA has filed a supple-
mentary chargesheet
against accused Rajakbhai
Kumbhar of Mundra, Gujarat
in an espionage case of Uttar
Pradesh relating to passing on
defence secrets to ISI opera-
tives.
Kumbhar has been
charged for Indian Penal Code
Sections relating to criminal
conspiracy and waging war
against Government of India
besides provisions of the
Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act.
The case was initially
registered as FIR No. 01/2020
dated January 19, 2020 at
Police Station-ATS, Gomti
Nagar, Lucknow in which
accused Md. Rashid of
Mughal Sarai, Chandoli, UP
was arrested on January 19,
2020 for supplying sensitive
information, photos and
videos of vital installations of
strategic importance to ISI
operatives based in Pakistan.
The NIA had re-regis-
tered this case as RC-
03/2020/NIA/LKW on April
6, 2020 and took up the
investigation.
Earlier, a chargesheet was
filed against Rashid on July
16 last year for his role in
supplying sensitive, tactical
and strategically important
information about vital
installations and movement
of Indian security forces to
his ISI handlers based in
Pakistan.
“The chargesheeted
accused Rajakbhai Kumbhar
was arrested on September 30
last year. Further investigation
had revealed that he had vis-
ited Pakistan twice on legal
documents. During his return
in the course of second visit,
Kumbhar had come in con-
tact with Pakistani ISI oper-
atives Hamid alias Asim and
he had joined the conspiracy
with the co-accused. He
transferred funds to accused
Md. Rashid for the informa-
tion he had provided to the
ISI operatives in Pakistan,” the
NIA said in a statement.
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The Council of Scientific
and Industrial Research
(CSIR), India’s apex scientific
research organisation, head
Shekhar Mande on Friday bat-
ted for US based Pfizer and
BioNtech’s Covid-19 vaccine
saying that he will try to “con-
vince” the Government to ini-
tiate talks with the pharma
giant and find out ways to
bring it back for vaccination of
people in India.
Not only Pfizer, he said,
the government should also
consider inviting Johnson
Johnson, Sputnik and
Moderna to India and assert-
ed that India will need at least
4 other vaccines to help finish
immunisation drive faster.
Pfizer had applied for an
emergency-use nod for its
Covid vaccine in India, but
withdrew its application earli-
er this month.
Mande’s comment comes
in the backdrop of a study that
said that a single dose of Pfizer
and BioNtech’s Covid-19 vac-
cine cuts the number of
asymptomatic infections and
could significantly reduce the
risk of transmission of the
virus. In fact, Pfizer had also
announced earlier this week
that its Covid-19 vaccine can
be stored at warmer tempera-
tures.
Earlier, the vaccine
required storage temperatures
between -80ºC and -60ºC,
which made the vaccine less
viable for India.
Also, the requirement of
multiple options of vaccine
candidates in India will soon
go up as India Wednesday said
private hospitals could start
vaccination now.
“I am not aware of the
issues due to which Pfizer
had withdrawn the application
but now the regulator and
company should try to find a
middle way. Pfizer is per-
forming very well in other
countries,” he told a news
agency.
Pfizer was the first phar-
maceutical firm to apply for
emergency-use authorisation
for its Covid vaccine in India.
However, on February 5, 2021
the company decided to with-
draw its application.
According to the minutes
of the meeting of the Subject
Expert Committee (SEC), the
expert panel that recommends
vaccines to India’s drug regu-
lator for approval, it had
turned down Pfizer’s propos-
al as the company did not
show interest in conducting
‘bridging trials’ in India.
“The firm has not pro-
posed any plan to generate
safety and immunogenicity
data in Indian population,”
the minutes read.
However, Mande said he
would not like to comment on
why the company withdrew its
application. “I want both of
them, the company and the
regulator to find a middle
way,” he said, according to the
agency.
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The Home Ministry on
Friday said the existing
Covid-19 guidelines will
remain in force till March 31.
In a statement, the
Ministry of Home Affairs
(MHA) said while there has
been a substantial decline in
the active and new Covid-19
cases, there is need to main-
tain surveillance, contain-
ment and caution so as to
fully overcome the pandem-
ic.
The States and Union
Territories have also been
advised to speed up the vac-
cination of the target
population so as to break the
chain of transmission and
overcome the pandemic.
Accordingly, containment
zones will continue to be
demarcated carefully and
prescribed containment mea-
sures will be strictly followed.
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Flying within the country
without any check-in bag-
gage could soon get cheaper.
The Directorate General of
Civil Aviation has issued a cir-
cular, allowing airlines to give
concessions in ticket prices to
passengers who carry no bag-
gage or only cabin baggage.
The new rules will provide
tickets for cheap for those pas-
sengers travelling with no
baggage or just cabin baggage.
However, the cabin bag-
gage has to be within the
permissible weight limit. The
services that will now be
chargeable on the opt-in basis
include preferential seating,
meal or snacks or drinking
charges, sports equipment
charges, musical instrument
carriage, fee for special decla-
ration of valuable baggage (
allow for higher unit on car-
rier liability), charge for using
airline lounges. Currently, a
passenger can carry up to 7
kilograms of cabin baggage
and 15 kilograms of check-in
baggage.
In a circular, the DGCA
said the government has
decided to unbundle certain
services and make them
chargeable on an opt-in basis
based on feedback received
from passengers. The DGCA
said that “as part of airline
baggage policy, scheduled air-
lines will be allowed to offer
free baggage allowance as well
as “zero baggage/no check-in
baggage fares”.
This will be subject to the
condition that the passenger
booking ticket under such
fare scheme is made aware of
the charges that shall be
applicable if the passenger
turns up with the baggage for
check in at the airline counter.
These applicable charges shall
be reasonable; prominently
displayed to the passenger at
the time of booking of ticket
and also to be printed on the
ticket,” DGCA said in a cir-
cular.
The move comes as an
effort to make flying more
affordable and accessible to
passengers. It is noted that
domestic airlines have seen
10-12 per cent drop in book-
ings as state governments
have tightened measures to
prevent the spread of Covid-
19 in the last two weeks.
Under the new rule, if a
passenger declares s/he will be
travelling with no check-in
baggage or only with cabin
baggage within the
permissible weight limit, air-
lines can offer tickets at less-
er prices. This declaration
will have to be made at the
time of the booking of the
ticket. “As part of airline bag-
gage policy, scheduled air-
lines will be allowed to offer
free baggage allowance as well
as “zero baggage/no check in
baggage fares,” the DGCA
said in its circular.
Passengers will be charged
if they choose “no check-in
baggage” fare and turn up at
the airport with check-in lug-
gage. “These applicable
charges shall be reasonable;
prominently displayed to the
passenger at the time of book-
ing of ticket and also to be
printed on the ticket,” the
DGCA said. It also allowed
unbundling of other services
like preferential seating and
said passengers should be
charged if they opt them.
“On the basis of various
feedback received, it is felt that
many times these services
provided by the airlines may
not be required by the pas-
sengers while travelling.
Considering the fact that
unbundling of services and
charges thereto has the
potential to make basic fare
more affordable and
provide consumer an option
of paying for the services
which he/she wishes to avail,
it has been decided by the gov-
ernment to allow these ser-
vices to be unbundled and
charged separately on opt-in
basis,” the DGCA added.
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The Congress on Friday
demandedajudicialenquiry
into the alleged suicide of Dadra
and Nagar Haveli MP Mohan
Delkar in Mumbai earlier this
week and asked why the Centre
had not acted when he repeat-
edly raised the issue of “harass-
ment” by the Union Territory’s
administrator.
The Opposition party
claimed the seven-time MP,
who was found dead in a hotel
room, had named the adminis-
trator, Praful Khoda Patel, and
other officials of the union ter-
ritory in his purported suicide
note. According to Congress
spokesperson Pawan Khera,
Delkar had in the past written
letters to Prime Minister
NarendraModi,HomeMinister
Amit Shah and other senior
leaders, flagging the “harass-
ment” he was facing at the
hands of the administrator and
other officials of Dadra and
Nagra Haveli.
“He (Delkar) had enumer-
atedthemannerinwhichhewas
being humiliated and harassed
ever since he won the Lok
Sabha elections in 2019 as an
independent candidate,” Khera
said at AICC Press conference.
“This is a set template of the
Government in power (at the
Centre). If you lose elections,
you try and harass, you try and
intimidate through agencies,
governors, lieutenant governors
and administrators. They try
and browbeat the person, try
and control him or her. If they
agree with you (government),
make them join you, if not then
these are the tragic results,”
Khera alleged.
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With the possibility of
large-scale violence, the
Election Commission (EC) has
directed that the election secu-
rity plan of poll-going States be
jointly decided by a committee
comprising the chief electoral
officer, State police nodal offi-
cer and state Central Armed
Police Forces (CAPF) coordi-
nator. According to officials,
over 6,600 polling stations in
West Bengal have been identi-
fied as ‘vulnerable’ and 715 crit-
ical ahead of the Assembly
elections while over 2,654
polling stations have been iden-
tified as ‘critical’ and 338 vul-
nerable in Assam.
According to EC, the first
such formal arrangement that
will apply to all future polls, will
ensure randomisation of the
state police and CAPF person-
nel, besides their optimum and
effective utilisation in the inter-
est of free and fair and fair elec-
tions
EC, in a communication
sent to chief electoral officers
of all all states and UTs on
February 8, directed that the
committee comprising state
CEO, state police nodal officer
and CAPF coordinator, shall
periodically/ frequently meet
during the polls to monitor
deployment and ensure effec-
tive and optimum utilisation of
police and security forces. The
committee will also oversee the
arrangements made for the
security forces within the poll-
bound state.
According to the Chief
Election Commissioner Sunil
Arora, all critical and vulner-
able areas have been identified
and advance teams have been
already deployed across all
four states and one union ter-
ritory Puducherry going to the
polls. “Also, webcasting
arrangements will be in place
at polling stations in critical
and vulnerable areas, while
adequate CAPF (Central
Armed Police Forces) deploy-
ment will be ensured for the
assembly polls, he said.
The CEC Arora said that
the CAPFs/SAP shall also be
deployed in the Expenditure
Sensitive Constituencies and
other vulnerable areas and crit-
ical polling stations as per the
assessment of ground realities
by the CEOs of Assam, Kerala,
Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and
Puducherry, in consultation
with the various stakeholders.
“All critical events will be
video-graphed. District
Election Officers will arrange
sufficient number of video and
digital cameras and camera
teams for the purpose,” he
said.
Vulnerable polling stations
have been identified on the
basis of several parameters
which include a polling booth
that has recorded more than
90% polling is classified under
vulnerable category.
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Investigation agencies CBI
and Enforcement Directorate
on Friday conducted joint raids
at various places in West Bengal
in connection with the multi-
crore coal pilferage scam,
sources in them said.
CBI sources said its sleuths
raided the official and resi-
dential premises of business-
man Randhir Kumar Barnwal
in Kolkata.
ED sources said the agency
has started searches at
Durgapur and Asansol and
also in the city.
Both the agencies are con-
currently probing the scam.
While CBI is looking after
the criminal aspect of it, ED is
delving into the money laun-
dering angle of the scam.
CBI has already examined
Trinamool Congress MP
Abhishek Banerjee’s wife Rujira
for her alleged involvement in
the coal scam. Banerjee in the
nephew of Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee.
It has also issued a look out
notice against alleged kingpin
Anup Majhi, alias Lala, who
has been absconding.
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The Supreme Court Friday
said it cannot allow sexu-
al harassment cases to be
“swept under the carpet” and
asked a retired District Judge
of Madhya Pradesh to face “in-
house departmental inquiry”
instituted by the high court on
the allegations levelled against
him by a junior woman judi-
cial officer.
“We cannot allow sexual
harassment cases to be swept
under the carpet like this,” a
bench headed by Chief Justice
S A Bobde said.
The Bench, also compris-
ing justices A S Bopanna and
V Ramasubramanian, rejected
vehement submissions of
senior lawyer R
Balasubramanium, appearing
for the former judge, that the
woman judicial officer had
withdrawn her earlier com-
plaint and had categorically
stated that she wanted “con-
ciliation”.
In the proceedings con-
ducted through video confer-
encing, the bench made clear
that it is not going to interfere
with the Madhya Pradesh
High Court order of an
inquiry and said that as on
date the former judge stood
“convicted” and there may be
a chance of his acquittal if he
chooses to face the inquiry.
“You are walking on a
very thin ice you can fall any
time. You may have a chance
in the inquiry they conduct
you may acquitted,” the bench
said, asking him to join the
inquiry.
The counsel for the former
judge then withdrew the
appeal against the high court’’s
order.
Earlier, the top court had
observed that “to flirt with a
junior official is not acceptable
conduct for a judge”.
It, however, had taken
note of submission of
Balasubramanium that sexual
harassment allegations were
levelled against the former
judge only when he was in the
zone consideration for eleva-
tion as a high court judge.
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The Supreme Court on
Friday refused to entertain
a plea challenging the Centre’s
decision to make FASTag
mandatory for all the vehicles.
The Government has made
FASTag mandatory from
February 15 midnight and any
vehicle not fitted with it will be
charged double the toll at elec-
tronic toll plazas across the
country, the Ministry of Road
Transport and Highways has
said.
A three-judge Bench of
Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justice
Bopanna and Justice V
Ramasubramanian asked the
petitioner to approach the
Delhi High Court and granted
the petitioner liberty to with-
draw the plea.
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KOCHI: In what could be a dilem-
ma for the Kerala BJP, one of the
senior leaders of the party belonging
to the Christian community resigned
from all posts including the post of
general secretary of the minority
wing of the party on Friday.
Baby John, former RSP leader
who joined the BJP in 2011 and was
elevated to the position of the minor-
ity wing general secretary told The
Pioneer that his elevation in the party
was because of his organisational and
mobilising capabilities. “But of late
I understood that the Kerala BJP is
a divided house with so many groups
and sub-groups. The minorities
always are treated as second-class cit-
izens. Though the groups owing alle-
giance to K Surendran, union min-
ister V Muraleedharan and former
party chief Krishnadas do not see eye
to eye on any issues, they are united
against their hatred for Christians
and Muslims. I am disappointed that
I joined a party like this and devot-
ed my life for them,” said Baby John.
He said he is likely to cast his lot
with the CPI(M) in coming days. “As
a school student I was a member of
the SFI, the student wing of the
CPI(M) and hence there is nothing
new in my regards for that party,”
said Baby John.
But Prof Stanly Sebastain, an
educationist-turned-entrepreneur,
who is known as a BJP fellow trav-
eller said there was nothing shock-
ing in Baby John’s resignation.
“He belongs to the group of
migratory birds who came to nestle
in the BJP on the recommendation
of a cartel led by bishops and arch
bishops. The BJP leadership’s failure
to thoroughly scan the people who
come in search of greener pastures
is the root cause of this phenomenon.
The BJP leaders in Kerala should
work together and appoint only
people with credentials to various
wings of the party ,” said Prof
Sebastian who is one of the pioneers
who alerted the Kerala Government
about Love Jihad in the State. PNS
:TaP[P)8]PY^[cU^a19?X]^aXchfX]VRWXTU`dXcb
:D0A274;;0??0= Q :278
As kick-off began for the
April 6 Assembly polls in
Kerala on Friday, poll observers
in the State are of the view that
the Congress-led United
Democratic Front (UDF) has a
slight edge over the CPI(M)-led
Left Democratic Front.
Veteran scribe and author P
Rajan, who led Mathrubhumi
daily’s editorial team for four
decades and continues writing
and commenting on political
and social issues, is of the view
that events in the last one week
witnessed by the State have cast
an uncertainty over the poll
prospects of the LDF.
“Chief Minister Pinarayi
Vijayanhimselfhadtoannounce
the cancellation of the MoU
signed with the US based
EMCC, a dubious company and
the Kerala Shipping and Inland
NavigationCorporationfordeep
sea fishing. Similarly, the ongo-
ing agitation by rank holders of
the Kerala Public Service
Commission for appointment
in Government service and the
goofing up of the way the
administration treated the job
seekerstoowillplayasignificant
role in coming days,” said Rajan.
He said he does not expect
a sweep by the UDF which was
witnessed during the Lok Sabha
election. The UDF had won all
but one seat in the 20 Lok
Sabha constituencies from the
State.“Thesituationhaschanged
because the minorities which
voted en masse for the Congress
hoping that the party would
regain the power which it lost in
2014 have understood that the
Grand Old Party is no more the
same entity. The CPI(M) has
said that it made a mistake in
handling the Sabarimala temple
issue, dear to all Hindus in the
State,” said Rajan.
N Prasanth, the managing
director of KSINC, who has
been alleged by the chief min-
ister and J Mercykutty, the fish-
eriesminister,ofsigningthedeal
with the US company for deep
sea fishing, created a sensation
when he warned all that he
would not take it lying down. “I
will disclose all details associat-
ed with the signing of the MoU
at the right time,” he had told
reporters on Friday.
Hari Kartha, senior scribe
and commentator, is of the view
that Wednesday night’s murder
of RSS leader Nandhu by SDPI
activists at Alapuuzha has upset
Hindus all over the State. “What
I understand is that though the
police was presemt in the spot,
they did not do anything to save
the victim from the attack,” he
said.
344?0::D0A970 Q =4F34;78
Congress is all set to initiate a dialogue process
at grassroot level in the main Hindi heartland
of Uttar Pradesh while it prepares to reap bene-
fits ahead of the assembly elections next year under
the leadership of party general secretary Priyanka
Gandhi. To being with the manifes to commit-
tee of the grand old party will visit Bahraich this
weekend to get people's feedback to formulate a
`people’s manifesto’.
In this regard the members of the manifesto
committee for Uttar Pradesh polls met on
Thursday in the presence of Priyanka, who also
is general secretary in-charge of the state to brain-
storm how to take on the might of incumbent gov-
ernment led by Yogi Adityanath and overall the
prevailing charisma of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi.
In the present UP assembly of 403 seats, BJP
is 312 while Congress is just seven while other two
big regional players, Samajwadi Party and BSP
who have ruled back to back in the State has been
downsized to 49 and 19 respectively. The last best
of the Congress in UP was in 1980 at 309 seats
followed by 269 in 1985.
According to the grand old party think thanks,
while the country witness large scale unemploy-
ment, poor economy and highest ever inflation
besides several restlessness in all spheres across
the country, Modi and BJP still remains popular
and common man issues have been eclipsed by
this.
AICC sources said the leaders under the chair-
manship of former Union Minister Salman
Khurshid deliberated to prepare a “people's man-
ifesto” and on strategise for the elections right from
now onwards. Besides Khurshid, who is party's
UP manifesto committee chief, Congress
spokesperson Supriya Shrinate were among those
present in the meeting.
Ahead of the Assembly elections in the State
next year, Priyanka has stepped up her efforts to
revive the party in the politically crucial State
where the party has been struggling to make a
presence in the past three decades. In recent days,
Priyanka has been attending and addressing kisan
mahapanchayats to connect with farmers protest-
ing against the new farm laws for three months
now.
She also went to Rampur to condole death of
a farmer who had died during the January 26 trac-
torrallyviolence,andlastweeksheaddressedfarm-
ers at Mathura and also visited the Vrindavan tem-
ple and before that she took also a holy dip at
Sangam in Prayagraj. She is scheduled to visit
Varanasi on Saturday to attend Guru Ravidas
Maharaj birth anniversary.
“She has been frequenting the State and is
focusing only that State ever since she came into
full active politics. People of the state, particular-
ly the oppressed and downtrodden are looking
towards her as a ray of hope in the same fashion
the State loved her grandmother former PM Indira
Gandhi,” said a senior Congress leader who is close-
ly associated to Team Priyanka with the sole agen-
da to win back the confidence in the State which
sends the maximum number of Lok Sabha MPs.
Last week the grand old party’s electoral foot-
print shrunk further with the fall of its govern-
ment in Puducherry. The party is now left on its
own only in Punjab, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh
while as coalition in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
Crucial states like Madhya Pradesh which the
party won over after long stint was lost due to acute
internal squabbling and similar situation prevailed
in another state Rajasthan.
Bengaluru: The day-long strike
in support of the Bharat
Bandh-call given by the CAIT
on Friday in protest against the
rising fuel prices among others,
was largely successful as major-
ity of trucks and goods-carry-
ing vehicles did not ply on
highways across the State.
The Karnataka State Lorry
Owners and Agents
Association (KSLOAA) came
out in full support of the Bharat
Bandh-call given by the
Confederation of All India
Traders to protest against the
rising fuel prices, Goods and
Services Tax, E-Bill etc.
KSLOAA President GR
Shanmugappa said that around
75,000 trucks that operate in
Bengaluru -- both up and
down -- were off the roads. “We
did not disturb supply of daily
essential commodities like
milk, medicine and fruits and
vegetables, but our strike was
largely successful,” he said.
He also told reporters that
transporters across the country
have been using the latest
amendment in the GST laws,
which has halved the validity of
the E-way bill, a permit asso-
ciated with the inter-state and
intra-state movement of goods,
from 100 km per day, to 200
km per day.
“Penalties for a truck car-
rying a consignment with an
expired E-way bill, or with an
erroneous E-way bill amount to
200 per cent of the tax value, or
100 percent of the invoice
value under Section 129 of
CGST Act, 2017,” he explained.
According to him, a lorry
owner in the changed tax and
fuel regime was forced to shell
out around Rs 1,000 extra just
to pass from Nelamnagala to
Attibele, which is around 35
km.
“This is a classic case how
cost has become unmanageable
to transporters. Therefore, both
union government and state
governments need to be more
sympathetic towards us and
must agree to roll back their
back breaking taxes, toll
charges and fuel prices,” he
appealed. IANS
F57YRdR_VUXV=57
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Having established that SUV that lay aban-
doned near Industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s
skyscraper mansion “Antilia” in south Mumbai
on Thursday evening was a stolen car and the
gelatin sticks found in it were manufactured in
a Nagpur facility, the crime branch sleuths of
the Mumbai police on Friday launched a man-
hunt for two unidentified culprits behind the
sensational plot.
A day after the 20 gelatin sticks and a let-
ter were recovered from a Scorpio that was
found abandoned in the vicinity of Mukesh
Ambani’s 27-storey residence “Antilia” on
Carmichael Road in south Mumbai, the
Gamdevi police registered an FIR in the case,
while the Mumbai Crime Branch sleuths land-
ed “strong leads” in their investigations in the
case.The two early leads that the investigations
found in the case were: the SUV – a Scorpio -
used in the crime had been stolen from Vikroli
in north-east Mumbai and e the gelatin sticks
found in the car were manufactured at Nagpur-
based firm M/s Solar Explosives Ltd.
Informed sources in the Mumbai police said
that the Scorpio used in the crime had been
stolen from a service road near the Vikhroli
Airoli junction. The owner of the car has told
the police that his car broke down near Vikhroli
Airoli junction while he was on his way from
Thane to Mumbai. The owner parked the car
on the wayside of the road. On the following
afternoon, when he returned to take the car for
repairs, he found the vehicle was missing. He
lodged a complaint with the Vikhroli police.
After the theft of the SUV, the miscreants
damaged the chassis plate and tried to make the
number illegible. However, the police retrieved
the chassis number and identified the owner.
In one of the multiple CCTV footages from
the area around the crime spot showed the sus-
pect who parked the car at the site, but he has
not been identified as yet as he sported a mask
on his face and had covered his head with a
hoodie that he wore.
The seized car has meanwhile been sent for
a forensic analysis
The purported threat letter -- written in bro-
ken English and Hindi – that was recovered
from the seized SUV was addressed to “Nita
Bhabhi aur Mukesh bhyya aur femili”. The cul-
prits said that what they were witnessing was
a mere “trailer”. ‘“Be alert. We have made all
arrangements to blow up the entire Ambani
family”, the letter read.
“An FIR has been registered and investiga-
tions were in progress,” deputy commissioner
of police (operations) and Mumbai Police
spokesperson S Chaitanya said.Chaitanya, how-
ever, declined to comment on the contents of
the letter, saying: he said: “I cannot comment
on the letter. It is part of the investigations. We
have got some leads, we are working on it”.
Having confirmed that the gelatine sticks
found in the car were manufactured at a
Nagpur-based firm, the investigators have
sought the details of sale of the seized gelatin
sticks “Since only packets and not the individ-
ual sticks are bar-coded, it will take us time to
confirm who bought it or whether these were
also stolen,” a senior police officer said.,
Lucknow: The Yogi
Adityanath Government in
Uttar Pradesh will launch a spe-
cial Covid-19 vaccination drive
for women above the age of 60
years on the occasion of
International Women's Day on
March 8.
This was announced by
additional chief secretary
(ACS) home, Avanish Kumar
Awasthi on Friday during a
high-level meeting with of UP
Women's Commission chair-
person Vimala Batham.
The official, during the
meeting with Women's
Commission chairperson, dis-
cussed measures to provide a
safer environment to women,
strengthening the peace, effec-
tively curbing crime and pro-
viding cent percent benefit of
government-run schemes
under the state government's
Mission Shakti campaign.
Awasthi said, “As per direc-
tives from chief minister Yogi
Adityanath, effective action
should be taken to make
women economically inde-
pendent so that the benefits of
government-run schemes can
be made available to women on
priority.”He also directed the
officers to pay special attention
to the programmes run under
the Mission Shakti campaign.
ACS Home also
announced that the state gov-
ernment will facilitate women
entrepreneurs on March 10 in
Lucknow.
“The invitees will be hon-
oured, and the participants
will be informed about the
efforts and success made by
women entrepreneurs. Efforts
will also be made to motivate
women working in various
institutions of Lucknow district
in the programme,” he said.
UP Women's Commission
chairperson Vimla Batham said
a work-plan would be pre-
pared by the commission for
the empowerment of women
through Mission Shakti. IANS
78C:0=370A8Q 90D
The scenic resorts of Gulmarg and Pahalgam in
Kashmir valley are witnessing huge rush of
tourists and adventure sport lovers who are flock-
ing there to participate in the ongoing winter car-
nival and sporting events.
On Friday Prime Minister Narendra Modi
delivered the inaugural address at 2nd edition of
KheloIndiaNationalWinterGames-2021through
virtual mode.
LieutenantGovernor,ManojSinhaandUnion
MinisterofState(I/C)forYouthAffairsandSports,
KirenRijijualsoaddressedthehugegatheringdur-
ing the inaugural ceremony of the mega event.
From February 26 to March 02, 2021, more than
600 Athletes from all over the country are par-
ticipating in different winter-sports disciplines
including Alpine Skiing, Nordic Ski,
Snowboarding,SnowMountaineering,IceHockey,
Ice Skating, Ice Stock and Snow Shoe.
In his address, the Prime Minister observed
that the second edition of Khelo India Winter
GamesisamajorsteptowardsmakingJammuand
Kashmir a hub of the Winter Games.
The Prime Minister said that winter games in
JammuKashmirwouldhelpindevelopinganew
sportingecosystemandwouldinstillnewspiritand
enthusiasm in the tourism sector in Jammu
Kashmir.
Experiencefromthiswintergameswouldhelp
the players while participating in the Winter
Olympics, said the PM.
With two Khelo India Centres of Excellence
and Khelo India Centres in all 20 districts com-
ing up in JK, the UT would become the centre
of sporting excellence, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Lieutenant
Governor, Manoj Sinha called upon the partici-
pating sportspersons to spread the message of
Peace, Unity, Goodwill, Love and Empowerment.
Let us share this experience of unifying power
of sports with the world, remarked the Lt
Governor. Gulmarg has been acknowledged as a
promising Winter-sports destination in the
International circuit. Khelo India Winter Games
is not merely an event, it is a mission to bring
together the youth from all over the country and
showcase our sporting talent to the world,
observed the Lt Governor.
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Panaji: The Goa Education
Department on Friday banned
students from driving two-
wheelers to school.
According to an order
issued by Director of
Education Santosh Amonkar,
the reason behind banning
school students from driving
on two-wheelers stems from
complaints of reckless dri-
ving by students.
“It is informed that many
students are seen using two
wheelers and riding in a reck-
less manner violating traffic
rules,” Amonkar said in his
order.
Amonkar has also urged
heads of all educational insti-
tutions to address the issue of
reckless driving by students
with their respective Parents
Teachers Associations, while
also urging them to ensure
that no student should drive
two wheelers to the school
campus.
“It is once again enjoined
upon all heads of institutions
to address this issue in PTA
meeting and ensure that no
students will drive two wheel-
ers to the schools,” the order
states.
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Bengaluru: The Karnataka
Government on Friday signed
an agreement with Cognizant
Technology Solutions India
Pvt Ltd and Rotary Club
Whitefield to provide 12,500
de-bonded desktop computers
to the first-grade government
colleges in the state as part of
the 'Help Educate' initiative,
Deputy Chief Minister C.N.
Ashwath Narayana said.
This initiative is part of the
Karnataka Learning
Management System
(Karnataka LMS) based digital
learning. The Karnataka LMS
initiative is aimed at training
around 24,000 teachers and 4.5
lakh students of 430 govern-
ment first grade colleges, 87
government polytechnics and
14 government engineering
colleges.
Addressing reporters after
Cognizant Technology and
Rotary Club signed an agree-
ment with the Department of
Collegiate Education and
Technical Education (DCTE)
here, Narayana, who also holds
the Higher Education portfo-
lio, said, “The 'Help Educate'
initiative is aimed at partnering
with MNCs and philan-
thropists to educate and train
students, train professors in
modern methodology through
faculty development pro-
grammes and digital teaching
and also equip the government
colleges with digital assets in
order to adopt digital learning
which is both a recent trend
and also a necessity of times.”
He added that Cognizant
India will provide 12,500 de-
bonded desktop computers,
while the Rotary Club has
come forward to instal
Windows operating system
and Office 365 besides taking
care of transportation and
installation of the desktops in
the respective colleges.
The Deputy CM explained
that the initiative's prime objec-
tive is to facilitate the govern-
ment first grade colleges with
computers and make a differ-
ence in the learning of students,
most of whom hail from a
socio-economically margin-
alised background.
“These 12,500 desktop
computers will be distributed
among all the government first
grade colleges to establish com-
puter laboratories for the use of
the students,” he said.
Narayana said that the gov-
ernment colleges need at least
30,000 computers, but under
this initiative, 12,500 comput-
ers are being provided.
“This contribution is val-
ued about Rs 50 crore and will
help fill the digital divide of the
students studying in govern-
ment colleges,” Narayana said,
as he hoped that many more
MNCs would come forward to
contribute to this initiative.
Launched in November
last year, the Karnataka LMS is
a comprehensive system which
aims to empower teachers,
enrich students and bridge the
digital divide. IANS
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PRVWRIZKRPKDLOIURP
DVRFLRHFRQRPLFDOO
PDUJLQDOLVHGEDFNJURXQG
Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh
registered 96 new Covid cases
on Friday, increasing the
state's tally over 8.89 lakh,
even as 71 more persons
recovered from the virus in
the past 24 hours.
Chittoor district report-
ed the highest number of
cases at 22, followed by
Guntur (17), Krishna and
Nellore (9 each), East
Godavari (7), Kadapa and
Anantapur (6 each).
Among other places,
Visakhapatnam (5),
Srikakulam, Vizianagaram
and West Godavari (4 each)
and Kurnool (3).
However, no infection
was recorded in Prakasam
district in the past 24 hours
while Chittoor has been log-
ging the highest number of
cases for some days already.
East Godavari's tally
crossed 1.24 lakh, the high-
est among all Andhra dis-
tricts, while the state's posi-
tivity rate fell to 6.41 per cent,
which is still higher than the
national average of 5.15 per
cent.
Surprisingly, the state's
active coronavirus cases
climbed back over 600 to
reach 635.
Meanwhile, one more
fatality occurred due to the
virus in the past 24 hours,
raising the total number of
deaths to 7,169.
With 71 more recoveries,
total recoveries crossed 8.81
lakh in the southern state.
With as many as 34,778
more tests, total Covid tests
in Andhra Pradesh crossed
1.38 crore mark. IANS
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^eTaaTWPQX[XcPcX^]^UUXbWX]VR^d]XchUa^]TPaQhUXbWX]VPaTPX]=PeXdQPX^]5aXSPh ?C8

6. Wehaveallheardtheterm,
the “new normal”, things like
working from home, fewer
people commuting and the
need for hygiene. But other
than everyone wearing face
masks and the Central
Industrial Security Force
(CISF) staff wearing shields
andattachingahandletotheir
metal detector “wands”, flying
in 2021 was not very different
fromflyingin2019andbefore.
Though I did sanitise my
hands after going through
security which I feel is the
biggest congregation point of
the entire flying process, it felt
thesameasbefore.Imuststate,
atnopointdidIfeelunsafeand
while I would not go as far as
to claim that there was a lais-
sez faire attitude, you really
would not have guessed that
therewasapandemicgoingon.
Now part of this can be
explained by India’s caseload,
something that was well
explained by oncologist and
award-winning medical writer
Siddhartha Mukherjee in The
New Yorker recently. It eluci-
dated on the concept that
because we live in India and
have been exposed to so many
pathogens before, maybe we
had been exposed to a “rela-
tive” of the COVID-19 virus
and that gave our bodies the
B-cells and the T-cells needed
to deal with the virus. What
else could explain the low
death toll in India, many parts
of sub-Saharan Africa and
South-East Asia? One could
argue that the “true” death toll
has been suppressed but there
is no way to hide hundreds of
thousands of deaths; people
would be talking about it,
and that clearly isn’t the case.
Thatsaid,weshouldstillbe
careful,particularlysincethere
is in all likelihood a more vir-
ulent strain doing the rounds.
It may (or may not) be more
deadly, but it would be stupid
to find that out the hard way.
I was flying on Vistara and
while mask compliance was
followed,theflightwaspacked
with families travelling to Goa
togetawayfromtheboredom,
one presumes. Some passen-
gers stuck in the middle seats
were covered in their woven-
fibre protective suits and most
people kept their face-shields
on during the flight.
But it was not so much the
flying experience, but what I
saw in Goa which was scary.
My hosts had organised din-
ner at a popular nightspot and
it was crowded. There were
few precautions being taken
and while the bouncers were
taking temperatures using an
infra-red scanner, it was quite
evident that the public at large
had travelled to the party
State to leave their
Coronavirus worries behind.
‘Thalassa’ on Vagator beach
was packed to the rafters and
nobody appeared to care.
With the Goa airport see-
ing flights from every corner
of the country even if some
States ask for the returnees to
be tested, the crowds at restau-
rants and bars were back to
pre-COVID levels, just that
they were almost completely
Indian with very few foreign-
ers.Thatsaid,therewere some
expats around; those who had
business and diplomatic visas
and they were praising the
Government and Indians for
taking such a “Zen” attitude to
the pandemic.
It was really incredible.
Eitherpeoplewerenotworried
or they had reverted to their
usual “dekha jayega” (we will
see) attitude. Or maybe this
was another example of Goan
“susegad”, the chilled-out laid-
back attitude. I still don’t know
whether it is the attitude to
adopt, but being constantly
stressed about the virus is
clearly not the way to be. But
the “new normal” doesn’t real-
lyseemverydifferentfromthe
“old normal”.
(The author is Managing
Editor, The Pioneer. The views
expressed are personal.)
$
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I
t is not good form to write
columns in the first person
butsincethiscolumntalksof
a personal experience, I will
be writing it as such. The expe-
rienceinquestionwascatchinga
flightforthefirsttimein350days.
Part of my work involves evalu-
ating and reviewing motor vehi-
cles and that invariably involves
a lot of travel, although the
COVID-19 pandemic ensured
thatthefewdriveswedidin2020
all occurred in the Delhi-NCR
and were fairly well-managed.
Carcompaniesdon’tdoeventsin
placeslikeGoabecauseofthesun
andsandorbecausefolkslikeme
enjoy flying, there are hundreds
ofdecenthotelpropertiesinGoa
and the State is connected by
flight to almost every major city
in India. So, to do a media drive
in Goa makes immense sense; in
fact it is probably cheaper than
organising individual drives in
different cities and is definitely
logistically easier.
I had promised myself that
Iwouldnotflyin2020,evenafter
flights resumed and a few isolat-
ed automotive events took place.
But as the new year rolled
around and the first events
began to be planned, one could
not put off travel much longer.
After all, working in a newspa-
per, I had been reading first-
hand how the Government has
more or less brought the pan-
demic in check. Of course, by the
time I did eventually fly that had
actually changed a bit with the
new strain emerging in
Maharashtra. However, my tick-
ets were booked and I was tak-
ing a flight after 350 days.
Adrivethatonceseemedlike
a weekly commute to Terminal
3 from my house appeared
strange,notleastbecausethiswas
myfirsttimeinataxiafteralmost
ayear.Traffictoandfromtheair-
port seemed normal and the few
jams were more to do with the
construction of the new flyover
taxiways. Since my flight was in
the afternoon, there was less
chaos at the drop-off area.
Airlines are running at a restrict-
ed domestic schedule at about
three-quarters capacity and with
very few international flights,
India’slargestairportterminaldid
not feel crowded.
SOUNDBITE
2:@C31B54?6B18E71489
Sir — This refers to the editorial ‘Slip of
the tongue?’ (February 26). Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi has yet again proved
that he is suitable for politics and can
make the BJP and its leaders uncomfort-
able. The BJP leaders, including the top
brass, fear the popularity that Rahul
enjoys among people and miss no oppor-
tunity to project the Gandhi scion in bad
light or poke fun at him.
They know that only he can change
political equations and has the ability to
lead the country. On the other hand,
knowingly or otherwise, Rahul makes
such statements or speeches which give
good fodder to the BJP to keep attacking
him, his family and also the Congress.
Attacking Rahul gives the ruling party an
opportunity to cover up its own failures.
All the BJP leaders talk about 70 years of
Congress rule alleging that the ‘Grand Old
Party’ did nothing for the nation but
rather looted it. However, they fail to
count the achievements of the Congress
against which the seven years of the BJP’s
rule stand nowhere.
Fuel prices are at an all-time high, the
economy is at all-time low, unemployment
rates are high and there are no jobs in the
Government sector. The Modi
Government is doing rampant privatisation
to benefit its corporate friends and is least
concerned about the plight of the poor and
the have-nots. Only a Government under
Rahul’s leadership can save the nation and
put the economy back on tracks.
N Nagarajan | Secunderabad
5HDB149D516E79D9F59491C
Sir — There is finally the good news that
fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi,
wanted in India on charges of fraud and
money laundering in Punjab National
Bank (PNB) scam case, will be extradit-
ed from the UK. Mumbai’s Arthur Road
jail has kept a special cell ready to lodge
him. It is like a win-win situation for the
Indian Government and authorities.
Further, the UK judge ruled that there is
no evidence to suggest that Nirav would
not receive a fair trial in India. With this,
Nirav lost his nearly two-year-long legal
battle against extradition on all grounds.
The 49-year-old fugitive businessman
has been repeatedly denied bail due to the
seriousness of the allegations against
him and remains behind bars in a London
prison since his arrest in March 2019. It
will also set an example for other crimi-
nals who flee the country after commit-
ting financial and other crimes and think
they can get away with it. Such criminals
and fugitives can afford big lawyers, but
they must remember that law is above all
and it’s not easy to hide or escape its long
hands. All fugitives should be extradited
and punished as per the law of India.
CK Ramani | Chennai
C81=56E13D2I@?935?66935B
Sir — It is really shocking that Rajesh Das,
the Special Director General of Police,
Tamil Nadu, has turned out to be a black
sheep as he is accused of misbehaving
with a female IPS officer on duty and sex-
ually harassing her. This is what happens
when officers are promoted to senior
positions, particularly in the police
department, without taking into account
their past records but rather on various
other considerations. It is also unwarrant-
ed that posts such as Special DGP are cre-
ated with the intention of accommodat-
ing blue-eyed officers.
Suspension would not be sufficient
in his case and he should be summarily
dismissed from service as the female IPS
officer has come forward to lodge a com-
plaint against him.
It is expected that the panel to probe
the harassment charge would do a fair job
and submit its final report in record time.
If women police officers are not safe and
are vulnerable to such crimes at the hands
of their own colleagues, the plight of com-
mon women is not hard to understand.
Tharcius S Fernando | Chennai
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